Drywall dust ruined my shop vac - here's the fix I wish I knew sooner

I spent $60 on a new filter after my last sanding job clogged everything up. Has anyone tried those cyclone separators or are they just another gadget?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_kevin15d ago

95%? Yeah right, maybe if you're counting by weight instead of actual dust.

grantschmidt18d ago

I grabbed a cheap cyclone separator off Amazon for like 35 bucks after my shop vac died halfway through sanding a bedroom... best money I ever spent on a tool honestly. That little bucket caught about 95% of the drywall dust before it ever hit the filter. My filter looks almost new after three sanding jobs now and the vac keeps pulling strong the whole time. Just make sure you get one with a metal lid and not the thin plastic ones that crack when you bump them.

kim96318d ago

Wait wait wait, hold on. A cheap Amazon separator caught 95% of drywall dust? That's crazy. I seriously need to look into that because I've been dealing with clogged filters for years now, @grantschmidt you might have just saved my sanity. The metal lid tip is smart too, I can just imagine the thin plastic ones shattering the first time you bump them against a stud. I never even knew these things were that effective, thought they were gimmicky or something.